The Ending (Part 2)
Pei Jue first walked out of the main hall and released a signal fire, then walked back, strode up the steps, stood with Xu Ruoyan, and looked down at Qi Feng who was lying quietly on the ground.
"Dead?"
Xu Ruoyan nodded.
Actually, she didn't expect Qi Feng to be so careless, only using one person to guard against her.
Perhaps he felt that with his small frame, any big, strong man could easily crush him.
She stepped forward expressionlessly, pulled out both of her short knives, wiped them clean with her handkerchief, and put them away.
Qi Feng really thought his sword was useless just because it was broken? How utterly stupid.
“Pei Huai isn’t here,” Pei Jue said.
Xu Ruoyan didn't care. It didn't matter where Pei Huai was; after all, without Qi Feng, he had no chance of causing trouble.
"But we still haven't figured out why Qi Feng is targeting you like this. They should be targeting me."
Pei Jue's voice echoed in her ears.
Actually, it's already been figured out.
Xu Ruoyan replied in her heart.
When she guessed that Qi Feng might be her enemy from before she transmigrated, she even tried to recall her life from the moment she was born, but she couldn't remember who she had ever clashed with. However, just now, the instant she kicked open the door of the main hall and looked up to meet Qi Feng's gaze, she suddenly thought of someone.
She couldn't remember the person's name or appearance, but he was indeed someone whose fate intersected with hers.
That's the person who caused the medical dispute and ultimately took his own life.
You took my life, so you'll give me yours in return. Perfect.
She looked at the lifeless body on the ground with indifference in her eyes.
Then this indifference met its match with the Ice Melting Period when it came to Pei Jue.
Pei Jue thought Xu Ruoyan hadn't recovered yet. Although he didn't know why she was in a daze, he still squeezed her hand and said gently, "Pei An and the others are on their way. Let's go first."
Xu Ruoyan nodded, grasped Pei Jue's hand in return, and turned her head away without a trace of lingering affection.
When they reached the palace gate, they saw Pei An stumbling and running towards them.
"Brother, sister-in-law!" he shouted, waving his hand high, completely unconcerned about tripping over his long gown.
Just as Xu Ruoyan opened her arms, she caught Pei An as he lunged at her.
She laughed and ruffled his messy hair: "You look like a beggar."
Upon hearing this, Pei An burst into tears.
"Sister-in-law, you have no idea how badly they bullied me!" He complained to Xu Ruoyan with tears in his eyes, not caring at all about the snot that was flying into his mouth. "They've kept me in solitary confinement for days, and they only bring me one meal a day. I almost starved to death!"
Xu Ruoyan wanted to turn around and go back to give Qi Feng two more blows.
Before Pei An had finished crying, he buried his head in Xu Ruoyan's shoulder and rubbed against her, saying, "Sister-in-law, I'm so glad you're alright! I was so worried about you!"
Pei Jue stepped forward and pulled Pei An away from Xu Ruoyan without giving a chance to explain. His actions clearly revealed his jealousy, but he still pretended to be righteous and stern: "You're such a grown-up, crying and making a fool of yourself!"
Xu Ruoyan turned her head away and chuckled to herself when the two weren't looking.
"What's the situation outside?" Pei Jue asked.
Pei An hastily wiped away his snot and tears, and then said, "Qi Feng's imperial guards are all useless. They definitely can't beat Zhang Zizhi and Zhu Ying. I took a quick look when I came here and found that there was no problem, so I came here first. I estimate that it will be over in no time."
Pei Jue nodded, feeling that his younger brother was capable of handling things.
Pei An waited for a while, and seeing that neither of them intended to speak, he blinked curiously.
He glanced at the clear sky and took a deep breath.
I can't believe it, it's over already?
It must be because his sister-in-law is powerful.
Thinking this, he chuckled like a fool again, and with his messy hair, he really looked like an old beggar who had been lying by the wall for ten or eight years.
Pei An was right. Those Imperial Guards had no chance against Zhang Zizhi and his men. What they feared back then wasn't the Imperial Guards themselves, but the soldiers and assassins Qi Feng had secretly raised. However, as soon as Qi Feng breathed his last, all his men deserted him; not a single one of them was loyal to him.
In just half an hour, Zhang Zizhi and Zhu Ying arrived at Tai Luan Palace with a large army.
The Shadowless Pavilion members had already retreated into the shadows under Zhu Ying's orders, while the remaining 10,006 people stood in front of the main hall, looking at each other in bewilderment.
Xu Ruoyan couldn't stand the awkward situation any longer. She cleared her throat and asked Pei An beside her, "Have you found Pei Huairen?"
Pei An said, "He's hiding at Consort Shu's place."
Xu Ruoyan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
They had already figured out right and wrong in their relationship; the couple was just putting on an act for him.
“Never mind him then,” she waved her hand, “The ministers in court…”
Before she could finish speaking, the neatly arranged army in front of her suddenly scattered.
The three people standing at the front of the line looked up curiously, following the path cleared by the soldiers, and suddenly saw a familiar, hunched figure.
"Your humble servant Li Wen, accompanied by his ministers, has come to pay his respects to Your Highnesses and Physician Xu."
This time, not only Xu Ruoyan and Pei An, but even Pei Jue was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
Following behind Li Wen were Li Siming and other ministers. Pei Jue glanced around and saw that, apart from a few who had followed Qi Feng, they were all there.
They were all officials who hated Pei Huai and Qi Feng's ways, and a month ago they had joined Li Wen's camp, either openly or secretly. Now that Qi Feng had been overthrown, they rushed over to express their loyalty to Pei Jue.
Li Wen's hoarse yet powerful voice rang out: "The former emperor was incompetent and tyrannical, favoring treacherous officials and causing the people to suffer. Now that the late emperor has fled, I implore Your Highness to ascend the throne and bring peace to the realm!"
After he spoke, the ministers behind him all stepped forward. They knelt down before the three men in unison and respectfully bowed deeply: "We humbly request Your Highness to ascend the throne and bring peace to the realm!"
Xu Ruoyan was a little dumbfounded.
Is the progress so fast? One second they've usurped the throne, the next they're about to ascend it?
She looked at Pei Jue with some uncertainty, wanting to hear what her decision was.
Pei Jue then looked at her and spoke amidst the attention of everyone: "I urge you, Madam, to ascend the throne and bring peace to the world."
Xu Ruoyan was internally furious.
Ascend the throne? Who should ascend the throne, her?
She had expected Pei Jue to be met with rebuttal for such an absurd statement, and feared that he might be attacked by a group of people, so she quickly waved her hand, saying, "He's joking, he's just joking..."
To everyone's surprise, the ministers readily agreed and shouted the same thing again.
"I humbly request that the Princess ascend the throne to bring peace to the realm!"
Are you kidding me?!
She stared at Pei Jue and then at the people lying below, her mouth opening and closing, but she couldn't utter a complete sentence.
Just as she was wondering if these people had taken the wrong medicine, she saw Pei An running over with a crown in his hands. He then placed the crown on her head and quickly prostrated himself on the ground, shouting, "I humbly request my sister-in-law to ascend the throne!"
Xu Ruoyan felt that she must be hallucinating because she had been too frightened these past few days.
The heavy crown made her neck a little sore, so she carefully shook her head and watched the jade beads hanging in front of her clink and clatter together.
This feeling... seems pretty good?
Her expression gradually changed from great shock to a kind of enjoyment.
However, Xu Ruoyan ultimately did not agree to the matter. After all, she felt that it was too hasty to decide the ruler of a country so casually, even though Pei Jue kept telling her that he had wanted her to ascend the throne for a long time and kept praising her talents.
Xu Ruoyan admitted that this tactic worked well for her, as she hadn't suppressed the upward curve of her lips. However, a final bit of rationality overwhelmed the clamoring desire in her mind. In addition, Pei Jue insisted on forcing the throne onto her, so the agreement they reached was that the two of them would rule together for a period of time, and once the country was stable, the throne would be passed on to Pei An.
Two days later, they finally cleaned up the chaotic hall and palace. The entire palace looked brand new, and it was impossible to imagine what had happened two days earlier.
"Pei Hua and Consort Shu...?"
At that moment, Xu Ruoyan was sitting on a swing in the back garden, and Pei Jue was standing behind her, gently pushing her.
“They ran away in the chaos, and we don’t know where they went,” Pei Jue said, pulling a candied hawthorn from his pocket as if by magic and handing it to her. “Eat this before you play, because it will get hot soon and we won’t be able to eat candied hawthorn anymore.”
Hearing him say that, Xu Ruoyan was momentarily dazed.
When she first arrived here, it was the dead of winter; now it's almost summer.
The two moved to a stone bench under a peach tree and sat side by side. Xu Ruoyan leaned her head against Pei Jue and swung her legs.
"What about his other concubines..."
Pei Jue patted her head: "Don't worry, Madam, everything is settled."
Xu Ruoyan took a bite of the candied hawthorn and suddenly had a wicked idea.
“Hey,” she said, intending to tease Pei Jue, “why don’t you ever consider taking a few concubines?”
Pei Jue pinched her nose and said with a wronged look, "Madam knows that I have only ever had you in my heart."
Xu Ruoyan bit into a candied hawthorn, chewed it twice, and then held it to Pei Jue's lips: "Alright, alright, but I want to take a few male concubines, what do you think?"
Pei Jue remained silent.
Xu Ruoyan waited for a while, and when she saw that he neither made a sound nor took a bite of the candied hawthorn, she panicked, thinking that he was angry with her. She hurriedly sat up and tugged at his arm: "You're not angry, are you? Let me see?"
When Pei Jue turned his head, what she saw in his eyes was not raging anger, but boundless calm.
Calmness can sometimes be more frightening than visible danger.
She felt a sense of foreboding and awkwardly moved back, intending to escape quickly. However, before she could move even a centimeter, Pei Jue grabbed her wrist tightly.
As she slowly raised her head, Pei Jue also moved closer.
He pressed his forehead against Xu Ruoyan's and rubbed it against hers, his warm breath spraying all over her nose.
"My wife can only have me in her heart, okay?"
Xu Ruoyan sniffed her itchy nose, feeling a bit like she was about to sneeze.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Pei Jue's gaze gradually darkened. He slowly slid the hand that was holding Xu Ruoyan's wrist down to her back, and then kissed her without hesitation.
"Hmm, um..." Xu Ruoyan was startled at first, but soon she was too exhausted to be shocked anymore.
Pei Jue kissed her, biting her lips as if he wanted to crush and swallow all her bad thoughts.
Feeling Pei Jue's overwhelming love, Xu Ruoyan slowly closed her eyes and tried to give him all her breath.
Her fingers, gripping Pei Jue's sleeve, gradually tightened, then slowly loosened under Pei Jue's reassuring touch.
After an unknown amount of time, and it's unclear whose teeth bumped whose lips, the two finally parted reluctantly, then gazed intently at each other's reflections in the twilight.
It was an immature kiss, but it became profound under the nourishment of mature love.
Let us remain entangled like this: our breath, our destiny, and our love.
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